Rainy day woman: Laura Ann Brady – Masterpiece

The first time I heard Laura Ann Brady she was at Dublin’s Sugar Club supporting Canadian country singer Lindi Ortega, and making the headliner seem like an afterthought.

Playing solo with an autoharp, the Dublin singer-songwriter’s mystic folk, with roots in cult 60s acts like Pentangle and Wicker Man earthiness, seemed like a real antidote to the H&M folk we’ve been fed by Mumford & Sons and all the other half-assed pseudo-bumpkins over the last few years.

Photo by Aga Maru

Fast forward nearly three years, and she’s just released her debut single Masterpiece — a six-minute torrent of emotion and longing, with glinting acoustic melodies offset by some unnerving dischord that wouldn’t sound out of place on some of Swans’ calmer passages.

The video, shot by Aga Maru, has Brady fleeing through sodden woodland and rainy fields with hair matted to her face, evoking a pinpoint moment of heartbreak you’d read in a Bronte novel.

Photo by Aga Maru

The song is available to stream on all the regular sites, and it’s available to buy on Bandcamp and iTunes. The first 100 were treated to a free download, but you’ve probably missed that boat by now.

Masterpiece is the first single off Laura Ann Brady’s upcoming album World Beneath the Waves. Keep checking in at lauraannbrady.com for updates, and listen to more of her tracks on Soundcloud.